Attaching excel models to application email? (no experience)
I'm a freshman with no experience looking at some remote search funds to intern for. I've been looking on indeed (anywhere else I should try?) and generally they just ask for you to drop them your resume. I've been making excel models (mostly the classic DCF, LBO, and 3 stmt) for the past few years and I just want to show them that I really do like learning about this, and that I already do have a baseline knowledge that I want to grow and apply to actual work.
Right now, my resume just says that I'm a freshman who has worked at a hotel for 5 years and has experience with excel.
So should I attach some models or not?
Thanks
You need at least one mid level working professional to review your model before you try this just because no amount of self-study or classroom study can replicate the look and feel of a model made by someone with lots of work experience. Candidly a lot can go wrong since you don’t have experience. But ballsy, high risk strategies can pay off in big ways when they land right, so I would encourage you to think through how to make it work.
For example I got a job after first reaching out to an investment firm cold 1.5 years prior to actually getting the job; I had reached out with something of effort (not a model but same sentiment) and built the relationship over time. I assume you’re looking for this summer so this advice won’t feel relevant, but you are young so consider this as you send materials to firms.
I appreciate the guidance! The “no experience” stage is a bit challenging, but I can certainly see the risk in sending in an amateur excel model.
Given my lack of experience, should I still submit my resume to these search funds? Or should I direct my time somewhere else?
Still submit. Send direct emails if appropriate, resume drops can be a black hole.
Search fund internships are usually unpaid and typically just acquire a high interest in the process and/or gaining some business experience. Depending on the stage, I wouldn’t expect to be heavy into modeling unless the fund has a line of sight and is actively engaged with multiple targets. Most of the work will likely be very nitty data management work where you are searching the owner names and contact info for them all over the web. You may be asked to come up with a thesis for an industry or business type that fits the general criteria of the search’s target acquisition and then tasked with building a list of companies to target for cold-call reach out. Some search founders do a better job at having a very structured program for you that includes some career/experience building stuff, whether it is a speaker series, Company site visits or modeling training. All of this being said, I think a Search Fund is a great experience for anyone looking to start somewhere. And while you might get stuck in some grunt work, you also potentially could get some interesting exposure. After finishing out a grunt one and since you are so early on in college, you could also pitch yourself to another fund that might need a little more search fund experience to be more of a “lead analyst/intern” so it could be more high level. Next level would be continuing to the next summer into a Search acquired business. Here would be an interesting plan of attack that would prep you well for second half of college where internships-to-fulltime is the goal. Freshman summer: search fund grunt; sophomore fall/spring: search fund intern/potential lead; sophomore summer: search acquired business internship —> assuming high grades then you would place well in consulting, IB (if that is even the goal, but it typically is on this site)
Dolorem molestiae praesentium est ducimus sed facere. Nobis voluptates perspiciatis dicta suscipit explicabo. Officia expedita distinctio repudiandae dolore magnam quaerat aut nobis.
Beatae eum velit dolores voluptatibus. Deserunt explicabo est consequatur. Atque voluptatum non voluptas voluptatem at. Magnam ut pariatur qui fugiat. Alias qui ut quam qui molestias eius. Fugit cum excepturi ea.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...